Did you hear the one about the atheist orator who was contracted to a
speaking engagement at a large university?
He was unable to attend his own lecture due to a hurricane that shut
down all travel. As he had already been
paid for his appearance and refused to return the payment, the university sued
him for breach of contract. His legal
defense maintained that he had been unable to travel due to an act of God. He was immediately charged with fraud.
In legalese, “Acts of God” are
situations, generally referring to natural events such as tornadoes,
earthquakes, wildfires, and the like.
Often, defendants use Acts of God to describe situations beyond their
control. According to one website, “The Act of God designation on all insurance
policies…means, roughly, that you cannot be insured for the accidents that are
most likely to happen to you.” [i]
Religion
journalist Cathleen Falsani writes:
A judge in
Nebraska threw out a 2007 lawsuit filed against God by state Sen. Ernie
Chambers, who had sought permanent injunction against the Almighty for bringing
“acts of terrorism” against the Cornhusker state. Chambers…asked that an order be issued
demanding God to cease and desist from causing ‘fearsome floods, egregious
earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues,
ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects, and the
like.’ Judge Marlon Polk threw out
Chambers’ case because the defendant in the case a.k.a. God, could not be
served with a summons. [ii]
Today in the book of Revelation, we look at Acts of God for
which Ernie Chambers might sue, assuming the events happen within the senator’s
lifetime. In chapter six, Jesus the Lamb
of God breaks open a book with seven
seals. With the opening of the book,
the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are unleashed upon the earth. Riders on white, red, black, and ashen horses
bring conquest, war, famine, and death.
Martyrs cry out for vengeance with the opening of the fifth seal. When the sixth is opened there is a worldwide
earthquake, a darkening of the sun, reddening of the moon, and blotting of
stars from the sky. The sky itself is
split apart. All humanity hides, wishing
for death “for the great day of…wrath has come (Rev 6:17[iii]).”
When the seventh seal is opened in chapter
eight, seven angels blow their
trumpets, which bring further destruction.
Hail and fire mixed with blood fall from heaven, burning up a third of
the earth. A burning mountain falls into
the sea, killing a third of all sea life.
A falling star called Wormwood poisons a third of all water. A third of the sun, moon, and stars are
darkened. The Bottomless Pit is opened and
from it comes a demon prince ruling a hoard of unearthly locusts which plague
humanity. Murdering horseman-angels are
released upon the world, killing with smoke and fire and brimstone.
In chapter sixteen, the seven bowls of wrath are poured out
upon the earth. Those who worship the
Beast are plagued with sores. The
springs and rivers and the sea are filled with blood. The sun scorches people with fierce heat. Darkness and pain and drought plague
humanity. The Euphrates dries up. Armies gather for the Battle of Armageddon. Lightning and hundred-pound hailstones come
from the sky. But amid all these curses,
I think the key verse in chapter sixteen
is found in verse eleven: “…They blasphemed the God of heaven
because of their pains…and they did not repent of their deeds.” God’s entire purpose in all these plagues is
to get people to repent—and yet their hearts are so hard that they will not.
There is a problem with using
the term Act of God to describe wildfires, windstorms, tsunamis. These occurrences are natural events, caused
by laws that God set in motion at the foundation of the world. God does not plan every weather pattern. Extraordinary events like the ones mentioned
in Revelation, or like the Great Flood, or the destruction of Sodom, or the
plagues of Egypt, are not natural occurrences but supernatural ones. They are exceptions to the rule, not God’s
usual method of dealing with sinful humanity.
Does God sometimes use these astonishing means to deal out His
wrath? Yes—the Bible confirms it. But the problem comes when people try to read
divine retribution into every hailstorm or hurricane.
In 2005, many religious leaders
said that Hurricane Katrina was divine retribution against both the immorality
and Voodoo practices of the New Orleans area.
Evangelist Pat Robertson said that the 2010 earthquake in Haiti was the
wrath of God for a pact that previous generations had made with the devil.[iv] Of course, natural disasters aren’t the only
things people point to as examples of the wrath of God. Some religious leaders are saying that Ebola
is God’s wrath against “sins including corruption and immoral acts such as
homosexuality.”[v] People who believe the Bible understand that
at times God does use war, natural disaster, and disease in order to bring
divine wrath. Yet, we also must
recognize that not every occurrence of these kinds of things is an indication
of God’s displeasure with specific people and specific sins.
First and foremost, the Bible
says that God is our loving Creator, who wants to bless rather than curse. Luke
9:55-56 says that when Jesus’ disciples wanted to call fire down on their
enemies, “…He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not
know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy
men’s lives, but to save them.’] And they went on to another village.” Where there may be exceptions to the
rule, compassion is generally the way of God.
In Matthew 18:14, Jesus says,
“So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that
one of these little ones perish.”
Yes, we realize that death and
destruction are part of the human experience.
Since death came into the world through sin in Eden, it has continued to
reign to this day. Every creature that
has ever been born has died[vi]. This isn’t the wrath of God, but the
consequence of human sin. Romans 5:12 says, that “through one
man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death
spread to all men, because all sinned.” Therefore
physical death is the inheritance of every human being, and not the direct wrath
of God against specific sins. Since
everybody will die, it seems silly to point to this specific death or those
specific thousand deaths and say, “See there—in that particular case, that’s an
example of the wrath of God.”
The book of Job is an example of a righteous man who endured great
trouble. Job’s friends said that his
suffering was God’s judgment on a sin that he had allegedly committed. The story’s narrative disputes this,
insisting on Job’s innocence. Rather
than God smiting Job, Satan is the culprit.
We learn that there are times when God removes divine protection for the
sake of our personal growth. God can
even bring great glory out of human suffering.
Romans 8:28 says, “…We
know that God causes all things to work together for good to those
who love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose.” This
doesn’t mean that God causes disaster, but that God can use it to accomplish
His will, as He did in the life of Job.
Many ancient people (and many
modern ones too!) believed that tragedy was always a sign of God’s wrath. Yet Jesus contradicts this notion by saying
that God “… causes His sun to rise
on the evil and the good, and sends rain
on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45).” Jesus
often dealt with people who wrongly attributed disasters to the wrath of
God. In response, He said, “Or do you
suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed
them were worse culprits than all the men who live in
Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise
perish (Luke 13:4-5).” While God did not cause this tragedy, Jesus
says that events like this bring our own mortality more readily into
focus. Disasters like this ought to lead
us to repentance, so that we are ready to meet our Maker when the time comes.
So we understand that death and
suffering and pain are just a part of life.
Rather than being the result of specific sins, they are the result of
humanity’s general fallen nature. It
wasn’t just people who experienced the curse of sin—all of creation suffers
along with us. In Matthew 24:8, Jesus describes wars and disasters as “birth
pangs.” Similarly, the apostle Paul
wrote:
For I consider that the sufferings of this
present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For
the anxious longing of the
creation waits eagerly for the
revealing of the sons of
God. For the
creation was
subjected to futility,
not willingly, but because of
Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from
its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know
that the whole creation groans and
suffers the pains of childbirth together until now (Romans 8:18-22).
So if we realize all these
things, how do we then differentiate between regular (and sometimes extreme)
suffering, and the wrath of God? First,
we have to understand that these occasions are exceptions to the rule. Jehovah is not Zeus, always ready to smite
people with lightning bolts. Second, as
in the cases of the Great Flood or the destruction of Sodom or the plagues on
Egypt, God announces judgment beforehand through prophets or angels. The Book of Jonah demonstrates that God’s
purpose is to bring people to repentance—God is not some bloodthirsty punisher
who takes delight in destruction. As in
the case of Nineveh, God forgives when His threats of destruction lead people
to repentance. Even when people don’t
repent and suffering results, God reminds them that their suffering is because
they wouldn’t listen. He gives them
another opportunity to repent. Yes, God
does at times cause sorrow, but 2
Corinthians 7:10 says, “For the sorrow that is according to the
will of God produces a repentance without
regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces
death.”
This brings us back to some key
verses in the book of Revelation that demonstrate God’s purpose for this time
of Tribulation. In Revelation 3:19, Jesus says, “Those whom I love, I reprove and
discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.” The word “repent”
appears twelve times in the book of Revelation.
God’s clear desire is not to punish people, but to discipline them with
the rod of suffering, and lead them to repentance. Yet Revelation
16:9 says, “Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the
name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him
glory.” God longs for human
repentance—even His wrath has restoration as its goal.
What did these passages about
God’s wrath mean for the original readers of the book of Revelation? That while persecution under Roman oppressors
was terrible indeed, things could be much worse. That one day all suffering will come to an
end when the world is made new. What will it mean, to a last generation of
humanity that goes through this painful time of Tribulation? That godly sorrow leads to repentance, and that
the Lord will give them one last chance to turn to Him. What does it mean to us today? That while suffering is a part of everyone’s
life, God wants to use it to bring about our good. Through today’s study in Revelation, I hope
that we’ll learn that not every disaster or tragedy is an act of God—that would
paint God with a terrible kind of brush.
Generally, we simply accept suffering as a part of life in this fallen
world. I hope we’ll realize that God
loves us, and that even when we do suffer, through our tragedy God is trying to
bring us back to Himself.
[i] http://www.barricksinsurance.com/insurance_jokes2.html. March 14, 2015.
[ii] Falsani, Cathleen.
“You Can Sue God, But You Can’t Win.”
November 21, 2008. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cathleen-falsani/you-can-sue-god-but-you-c_b_136453.html. March 14, 2015.
[iii] All scriptures taken from the NRSV.
[iv] “Pat Robertson Blames Earthquake on Pact Haitians Made
with Satan.” Jan 13, 2010. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/01/pat-robertson-blames-earthquake-on-pact-haitians-made-with-satan/. March 14, 2015.
[v] “Is Ebola a Curse from God? Some African Christian Leaders Think
So.” August 11, 2014. http://www.religionnews.com/2014/08/11/ebola-curse-god-african-christian-leaders-think/. March 14, 2015.
[vi] With the exceptions of Enoch (Gen 5:24; Heb 11:5) and
Elijah (2 Kings 2:11)
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